The Thin Line Between
by Slayne22
Summary: Beach Head, Cover Girl, and Handcuffs! What more can I write to get your attention??
1. Default Chapter

The Thin Line Between By Slayne22______2253 Disclaimer- I don't own or profit from G.I. Joe. If you guys won't give me Beach...will you loan him to me? Preferably over a long weekend.  
  
Notes- This is for the mysterious Lurker at ff.net, who challenged me to write a fic involving four things: Beach Head, Cover Girl, Bank Robbery and Handcuffs. How could I refuse???  
  
NOTES- This will contain Beach Head/Cover Girl smut in the last chapter (probably #four) so if the thought of Beach smut is 'icky' to you...then consider yourself warned!  
  
Rated R- for language and heh...sexual situations!  
  
Chapter One-  
  
The U.S. Army jeep turned into the bank parking lot and pulled into a stall. Beach Head threw the vehicle into park and then glanced over at the woman sleeping on the seat next to him. He was silent a moment, staring at her, before suddenly reaching out and shaking her shoulder.  
  
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty! We're at your damn bank!" he said loudly and gruffly. Cover Girl jerked awake and yawned, looking at him sleepily. They had just driven back from another base, where they had been given a demonstration of potential new Joe equipment. The trip was a good hour, and Courtney had tried to engage the Sergeant in some sort of conversation along the way. But when he had steadfastly refused to be even remotely interesting, she had just feigned sleep until she really did doze off.  
  
"Sleeping Beauty was awakened by Prince Charming...not Prince Alarming." she shot back as she sat up and looked around.  
  
"Whatever...just hurry up...I'm not interested in sticking around all night here."  
  
Courtney opened the jeep door and started to hop out. She glanced back at him with a grin. "I'll bet that's what you tell all the girls."  
  
She heard him snort as she closed the door behind her. She smiled as she stood and stretched, easing the crampiness in her muscles from the ride. The evening was cool and it was dark already, foretelling the coming winter. She walked towards the bank and around the side to the night depository. She was sliding the envelope with her paycheck inside, when she looked sideways and caught the gleam of a light inside.  
  
"Someone's still here this late?" she murmured to herself and peered inside curiously. Her eyes widened when she saw that the light was a flashlight and there were two dark forms moving around behind the counter. "What the hell?"  
  
She flattened herself up against the building and stared inside for a long moment, watching. Then she eased down and ran towards the edge of the bank. When she got to the corner she looked up at the jeep and motioned for Beach Head to get out and come over. She could barely see him through the windshield. Maskless, he was slightly more visible but his face was shadowed. She saw his hands come up in an irritated 'what??' gesture. She motioned more frantically and could practically hear him swearing as he opened the jeep door and walked towards her. She looked up into the constantly glaring brown eyes as he reached her side.  
  
"What? I told you I'm in a hurry!"  
  
"Shhhh! There's someone in the bank!" she whispered.  
  
"It's probaby a janitor or the nightwatchman." he said condescendingly. She fought the urge to kick him.  
  
"In the dark? With flashlights?"  
  
He shrugged and walked past her. "Come on."  
  
She followed, and they carefully approached the same window she had been peeking in a few minutes ago. He knelt down and peered over the ledge. Cover Girl knelt beside him and waited.  
  
"Well?" she asked when he hadn't said anything for awhile.  
  
He eased down onto his heels and looked at her. "You're right...I think it's robbery."  
  
"Whoa! Wait a minute...did you just say I was right?"  
  
"Can we stop the jokes for one minute? Is it possible for you to NOT irritate the living hell out of me for just one minute?"  
  
"I doubt it," Courtney sighed.  
  
Beach Head looked around and then at her. "Ok...come on...let's get to the back."  
  
"What?" she reached out and grabbed his arm, trying not to notice the thick muscle there. "Shouldn't we call the police?"  
  
"We don't have a radio with us...and this bank is in the middle of nowhere. By the time we get to a phone, they'll be gone!"  
  
"So we're gonna go in and play hero?"  
  
"Correct me if I'm wrong...but don't you have an account here? Isn't that why I HAD to stop...so you could put your money in here?"  
  
"But..." she glanced towards the bank, undecided.  
  
"Stay out here then...you can thank me when I get back...don't worry, I'll remind you."  
  
"Shit!" She swore and followed him around to the back of the bank.  
  
"Here!" he whispered and she saw the service door that was partially ajar. He opened it slowly, drawing a M-9 from his shoulder holster and peering around the edge of the door. Cover Girl drew her .45 and checked the safety. Locked and loaded. They crept silently into the building, listening intently. They walked through a small hall of officer before they reached the main door into the lobby and pressed their ears against the door. They heard voices. Beach gestured back towards the offices.  
  
"We can't go jumping in there all gangbusters. We have to find a way to surprise them."  
  
"I'm not stripping down to my underwear and trying to distract them." Courtney said forcefully.  
  
Beach Head glanced back at her and grinned. "I didn't say a word."  
  
He looked around and then motioned to the ceiling. Courtney looked up at the drop ceilng tiles.  
  
"No!" she protested, looking at him. He nodded. He stood on the desk and pushed one tile up at the edge of the room. She watched as he stuck his head up inside, pulled a small flashlight from his belt and looked around. He stuck it in his mouth and hoisted himself up. Then he reached down and pulled her up behind him.  
  
"Jesus," he grunted as he dragged her over the edge. "I thought models were supposed to be light."  
  
"I put on about 20 pounds of muscle when I joined up." she snapped as she knelt beside him on the studs of the attic. She watched his eyes wander lightly down her form in consideration before his gaze met hers.  
  
"Come on."  
  
She followed him as he crept carefully along, avoiding the drop tiles that would collapse under their weight. She heard voices as they crossed into the lobby, and then hesitated as they looked down through a small hole made for a camera assembly. Three masked men with pistols and one man in a suit and handcuffs were standing in the darkness of the lobby, talking quietly and urgently.  
  
"Look Beach," she whispered quietly. "They're the same species as you!"  
  
"Shut it, Cinderella...this is serious." he whispered back, giving her THAT glare. He motioned for her to go back the way they had come. She began to back up, when his boot accidently hit her hand painfully, making her jump. She teetered, unbalanced, for a long second before falling sideways and onto one of the drop tiles. She looked up to meet his expression of surprise with one of her own and caught the hand he offered her. The tile made a cracking sound and they looked at each other in resignation as she suddenly fell through the ceiling, dragging him after her.  
  
"Oof!" she grunted as they hit the floor in a tangle, hearing the shocked cries of the men they had just surprised. She looked up to see three pistols trained on them and three pairs of furious, masked eyes glaring at them.  
  
Continued....... 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
Cover Girl and Beach Head sat on a padded bench in the lobby of the bank as two masked men held 9mm pistols to them. The robbers had searched them thoroughly and stripped them of guns, knives, holsters, belts and Beach's armored vest, throwing them in a pile in the corner, out of reach. They had then questioned the two until satisfied that the swat team was not waiting just outside the door for them. The man in the suit had to be a bank manager, either abducted or surprised here as he worked late. The robbers had handcuffed his hands in front of him and snarled orders at him as he worked combinations and pointed out drawers. The head thug filled a bag with loot.  
  
"You're not going to get away with this." Beach Head remarked to the two guarding the Joes.  
  
"Shut up." one of the thugs growled.  
  
"Make me." Beach growled back.  
  
"Beach!" Courtney sighed. "Please?"  
  
"Hey! Both of you shut up!" the head thug hissed from behind the teller counter. He motioned to one of the other thugs. "Get over here and fill this bag!"  
  
The man moved away and the two Joes looked at the remaining man. He glared back and Beach chuckled. Courtney glanced at him. He jerked his head slightly and smiled. She sighed and looked back at the man...just as Beach jumped out of his seat and lunged towards the thug.  
  
The thug yelled and twisted out of the way as one of the others came running over and knocked the soldier to the ground. Courtney started out of her seat and the guy leveled his gun in her face. She sank back down The first man kicked Beach Head, and they dragged him up and sat him back on the bench next to an incredibly surprised Cover Girl.  
  
"Try that again...and I'll blow your head off." one of the men menaced. Beach Head glared at him, but said nothing, holding his side where the man had kicked him. The men backed a safe distance away and held the guns to them from there.  
  
"What the hell did you do that for?" Courtney exclaimed in a harsh whisper.  
  
"Good job, Cover Girl...you were supposed to distract him while I jumped him and took his gun." Beach hissed back.  
  
"What? When did we decide this?"  
  
"I gave you a signal!"  
  
"What signal?"  
  
"I nodded my head at you!"  
  
She stared, disbelieving, at him. "This," she mimicked the head twitch he had done, "means I was supposed to somehow instantaneously distract the guy while you pummeled him?"  
  
Their voices were gradually rising above a whisper as they argued. He shook his head at her. "Flint or Snake Eyes would have understood me."  
  
"Ok...Look Einstein...number one; Snake Eyes would have all three of these yahoos down and out for the count by now, and number 2...there is NO one who understands anything about you without either ESP or some sort of powerful hallucinogenic drug in their system."  
  
"Oh really!" he growled back angrily.  
  
"And furthermore..."  
  
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT...UP!" the head thug roared at them from across the lobby. They both jumped and looked up at the man. "I SWEAR TO GOD..." the thug swore with long suffering venom.  
  
"You!" he stated, motioning at the bank manager with his gun. "You're coming with us! If we get away clean, we'll leave you in a parking lot somewhere."  
  
He picked up one of the money bags and hefted it over his shoulder. "And you two!" he looked at the two Joes then he looked around. "Put them in the vault. That'll keep them quiet till morning."  
  
The two 'lackey' thugs began waving for Beach and Cover Girl to stand up.  
  
"Whoa...wait guys! No need to lock us in the vault! We'll just wait here quietly until you're gone, ok?" Courtney tried to play the claustrophobic woman. "I hate small places!"  
  
The head thug only smirked. He threw a pair of handcuffs to one of the lackeys. "Cuff her to Rambo here...maybe they'll kill each other!"  
  
The lackey handed his gun to the other and walked to the Joes. He picked up Courtney's left hand and put the cuff around it. Then he grabbed Beach's right wrist and put the other cuff on him.  
  
"Now...put them in the vault."  
  
They were herded over to the vault and shoved inside. There was a dim light from above illuminating the impregnable room.  
  
"The vice president will be here at six a.m." the bank manager tried to reassure them. "He'll open the vault right away!"  
  
One of the thugs shoved him away and towards the door.  
  
"Have fun kids!" the head thug snickered as he showed them the cuff key and tucked it neatly into his coat pocket. Then they shoved the vault door closed. The light remained on and Cover Girl and Beach looked at each other.  
  
Oh my god, thought Courtney. I'm locked in a vault until tomorrow morning...and I'm handcuffed to Beach Head!  
  
Continued....... 


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is a little sillier, but it gets more serious next chap, heh.  
  
THE THIN LINE BETWEEN--- CHAPTER 3  
  
Disclaimers in chapter 1  
  
By Slayne  
  
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
  
They were silent and motionless for a moment, trying to comprehend all that had just happened and how they had ended up here...handcuffed together...locked in a bank vault. Cover Girl glanced at Beach Head, and found him glaring at her. His brown eyes looked black in the dim light and his 'high and tight' styled dark brown hair made him look the epitome of a military drill sergeant.  
  
"What?" she snapped.  
  
"This is all your fault." He said, his expression conveying the words with an extra kick.  
  
She gritted her teeth behind closed lips and jerked her wrist in the cuff. "Well...next time use the regular army hand signals or something a little more obvious when you want me to kick some ass."  
  
"We've been working so well together lately, that I thought I didn't HAVE to!" he retorted.  
  
Courtney opened her mouth to respond and then paused and shut it again. Was that a complement or an insult? She wasn't sure.  
  
"You weren't very helpful." He stated. OK...now THAT was an insult.  
  
"Yeah? Well you weren't exactly 'Death From Above', Mr. Airborne Ranger!"  
  
He made a dismissive sound and suddenly began walking towards the back of the vault.  
  
"Hey!" Cover Girl protested as the cuffs jerked her roughly after him. He stopped abruptly and turned, and she stumbled into him. She had to place a hand on his chest to keep herself from falling against him. She jerked it back as soon as she gained her feet, but wasn't sure why it was so important to her that she not touch him.  
  
"Stop it!" she seethed as he looked down at her patronizingly. She jerked their cuffed hands up to eye level. "Wherever you go...I go...so stop lurching around!"  
  
"We need to look for a way out."  
  
They both looked around the dimly lit vault. There was a small air exchanger on the ceiling, but that was about it. It was about the size of a normal bedroom and filled with shelves and locked drawers. They tried the door again with no luck and, unfortunately, the bank did not store cutting torches or small explosives within their vault.  
  
"We're just going to have to wait until tomorrow morning." Cover Girl sighed. That drew another glare from her companion.  
  
"Well, what do you want to do? If you have any better ideas then, by all means, let me know!"  
  
"I'll tell you what I didn't want to do! Spend the night locked in a cell with you!"  
  
"If you'd have just left and let me call the police like I wanted to..."  
  
"If you hadn't fallen through the ceiling and pulled me with you...!"  
  
"If you hadn't tried to take on three armed gunmen by yourself and proven yourself a threat...!"  
  
"If you had picked up my signal..."  
  
"OK! Hold it!!" Courtney yelled as she brought her hands up to her head, burying them in her blond hair and trying to calm down.  
  
"Stop it!" Beach Head snapped and jerked his hand back down to his side, bringing hers along.  
  
"Oh my God...the guy was right...we're gonna kill each other." Cover Girl exclaimed. How the hell did this man get under her skin so deeply?  
  
"All right, look..." Beach Head said, calmer now. "It's fine, OK? We've got air and as soon as the robbers let that manager go, he'll call the cops and they'll be out here. We've just gotta relax..."  
  
"Easy for you to say..." Courtney muttered, glancing around at the confined space. "What happens if we have to go to the bathroom?"  
  
He paused at that and looked at her. "Do you have to go?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Thank God." The relief in his eyes was palpable and she grinned slightly.  
  
"Scare ya a bit, Sneeden?"  
  
"Nothing about you scares me."  
  
She doubted that but said nothing.  
  
"Besides," he went on, trying the door once more. "You'd better just hope I don't have to go...I'm right-handed."  
  
The picture that placed in her mind made her wince and shake her head. "Ughhh...stop it!"  
  
She heard him actually chuckle at that. She watched as his thighs flexed and his arms hardened to steel as he tried to force the door latch. She jerked her gaze away and stared at the wall.  
  
"Damn..." he swore as he relaxed and let go of the latch. "We're not going anywhere until someone lets us out of here."  
  
"No kidding..." Courtney rolled her eyes and he looked over just in time to catch it. He stared into her dark blue eyes and his gaze darkened.  
  
"Don't even..." he warned and she shrugged, giving up.  
  
He turned around, holding his hand up as he did so, so she could move with him.  
  
"We might as well get comfortable." He decided, sliding down the door to sit on the floor, dragging her arm down as well. She exhaled loudly and sank down beside him. The silence in the vault was nearly deafening. They stared straight ahead.  
  
"So..." Courtney looked at her watch. It was 22:00 hours. (10:00 p.m.) "What the hell do we do for the next...8 hours?"  
  
  
  
23:00-  
  
"OK...one, two, three...GO!"  
  
"Damn..."  
  
"Yes! Paper covers rock!"  
  
SMACK!  
  
"Ow! You're supposed to slap my fist, not my forehead, Courtney!"  
  
"Oh? Hmm. Sorry, that's just the way my friends played in school."  
  
"Where was that? Model school?"  
  
"Forget it...let's go. One, two, three...GO!"  
  
"Damn!"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
SMACK!  
  
"Ow!"  
  
23:30-  
  
"I TOLD you, I didn't go to 'model' school. I went to Northwestern for college. I didn't even like modeling that much."  
  
0:00-  
  
"So this blond goes in to have her hair done..."  
  
"Oh stop! Please..."  
  
"And she's wearing a Walkman with these headphones over her ears...."  
  
"How do you even KNOW a joke, Beach?"  
  
"And the hairdresser says 'hey...I can't cut your hair with those things on your head. You gotta take them off..."  
  
"I'm really not in the mood to be antagonized, Beach Head."  
  
"And the blond says 'no, no...just cut around them...I really need them.' So the hairdresser tries to cut around the earphones, but it's really not working. It looks horrible..."  
  
"Beach..."  
  
"So the hairdresser says 'look...you really have to take those off, I just can't do a good job.' So the blond thinks about it and finally says 'fine...I'll take them off.' So she takes the earphones off and a few minutes later, suddenly drops dead right in the chair..."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"I'm gettin' to that...so the hairdresser is freaked out, of course, and wonders what was so important that the blond had to wear the earphones. So she reaches down and grabs them, puts them on her ears, and listens..."  
  
"And?"  
  
"And she hears a voice saying 'breathe......breathe........breathe...........' Heh!"  
  
"I hate you Beach Head."  
  
0:30-  
  
"It's PART of my combat uniform, ok? When I wear my combat uniform, I wear it too. When I am out of uniform, I take it off...why is that so hard for everyone to understand?"  
  
1:00-  
  
"I wanna be an Airborne Ranger...I wanna live a life of danger..."  
  
"Stop singing! I'm trying to get some sleep!"  
  
  
  
2:00-  
  
"...is supposed to be a highly elite special forces team. We NEED to have discipline and dedication or Cobra is going to win."  
  
"We're all dedicated, Beach...But some of us have a life outside of the team, hard as that may be to understand. And we like it that way."  
  
"Then you shouldn't be here...you need to give everything you have or nothing!"  
  
Courtney sighed.  
  
  
  
2:30-  
  
"And how does he get away with that? If I ran things, I guarantee...."  
  
3:00-  
  
"...and furthermore...if Duke can't handle...."  
  
Courtney jerked her head up from dozing. Oh God...he was still at it. Her gaze scanned the shelves hopefully. Was is possible to fashion some sort of crude noose from currency and then hang oneself with it?  
  
3:30-  
  
Cover Girl was staring blankly at the wall in front of her. She blinked once.  
  
"...it weakens the unit! Personal relationships are strictly forbidden between officers and enlisted personnel...I don't understand why Hawk won't do something about them..."  
  
Courtney suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs for a long, long moment. Beach Head stared at her, startled.  
  
"For the love of God! Stop it, Wayne! Please stop! PLEASE! Just tell me what I have to do to make you SHUT UP!"  
  
Their gazes locked together and he frowned.  
  
"How about just asking?"  
  
Courtney groaned and buried her head in her bent knees. "God, you bug me, Wayne."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED..................SOON, I PROMISE! 


	4. Chapter 4

THE THIN LINE BETWEEN-- CHAPTER 4  
  
Disclaimers in chapter 1-- plus I shamelessly stole more Beach-isms from issue #50, heh.  
  
By Slayne This chapter is rated R ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
  
"Are you done freaking out on me, now?"  
  
Courtney exhaled slowly into her knees and listened to the deep voice, laced with that light Southern accent. It was softer now, almost slightly...worried? She glanced up and over. Beach Head was watching her, that permanent glare of his deepened a bit. He was handsome in that rugged sort of way that some men have.  
  
"Why do you have a 'high and tight'? You're not even a jarhead."  
  
He seemed relieved and irritated at the same time. "It's more comfortable under the mask...what do you care?"  
  
"I don't..." She sat upright and brushed her right hand through the pale strands of her hair, closing her eyes with a sigh and leaning her head back against the door. When she looked over again, he was watching her intently.  
  
"I'm ok..." she muttered.  
  
"I know..." he glanced away. They avoided each others gaze for a while and then Courtney shook her head.  
  
"I need to stand up for a while."  
  
"Ok." He raised his wrist with her as she climbed to her feet, and then he rose as well.  
  
"So...you had big plans for tonight?" She asked.  
  
"I had paperwork I had to get done...Hawk's gonna have my ass when it's late."  
  
"Mmm. I thought maybe you had a hot date or something." She grinned teasingly.  
  
"Psshh..." he snorted. "If you're any indication, then women are nothing but trouble..."  
  
"Thank you, Beach Head." She replied dryly. "But maybe if you toned down that whole 'natural male aroma' you have going...you'd get a few women."  
  
"Oh...another 'deodorant' joke. That's original. And who says I never get any women?"  
  
"Shipwreck...and I suppose I'm lucky that it's Tuesday instead of the weekend. I imagine you probably take your weekly bath on Saturday like every other hillbilly."  
  
He suddenly turned towards her and the hard brown eyes glared into hers. She was taken aback and she pressed herself back against the wall, surprised.  
  
"You're always making jokes about my personal hygiene. If you're so concerned about it, maybe you should come over one of these mornings when I'm in the shower...I'll let you scrub my back as clean as you'd like."  
  
Courtney's mouth dropped open and she stared at him. He always gave as good as he got when they sparred verbally...but he had never come out and made a suggestive comment to her before. It's not as if she wasn't used to such comments. But...it was different with him. It wasn't something he threw around without concern, like Shipwreck or Clutch. Sure there was a tension there...at least on her side...but...  
  
"Well?" he demanded.  
  
"You'll hog all the hot water..." it sounded lame, even to her. And she met his eyes to see something in them she hadn't really noticed before.  
  
"I have thick skin...I don't mind the cold." He said, his voice softer. "You can have all the hot water you want."  
  
The picture that suddenly invaded her mind was so vivid and sharp that she nearly gasped at it's intensity. Both of them naked, in his shower, the hot water pouring over them, as he faced away from her, his bulging arms braced on the tiled sides as she ran her hands down his soapy back. She inhaled slowly and glanced away, trying to bring control of the situation back to her side.  
  
"Yeah right..." she muttered, but her eyes held his for a moment too long. Damn! What was happening here?  
  
"Huh...that's what I thought." He retorted, turning away from her and leaning against the wall beside her again.  
  
She sighed, shaking her head. "Why wasn't I trapped in here with Duke, instead of you..."  
  
Beach Head stilled suddenly and seemed to tense. She glanced at him.  
  
"I don't understand what all you women see in that guy."  
  
"Hmmm. He's handsome, has a great bod, he's polite to women and not condescending. He's the poster boy for the phrase 'an officer and a gentleman'...yeah...that's a toughie!"  
  
Beach Head's jaw tightened and then he suddenly stepped directly in front of her and stared down at her. "So ... in other words...he's nothing like me."  
  
Cover Girl snorted "You're not an officer..."  
  
He suddenly leaned closer, his free hand bracing on the door next to her head, and she could almost feel what he was going to say before he said it.  
  
"Well, I'm sure as hell no gentleman either..." and his hand slid behind her head, holding her as his mouth came down on hers.  
  
Courtney nearly gasped as she felt him press her against the door and his lips against hers. The excitement that suddenly flooded her body shocked her. Was this really happening? His mouth was hard, but not violent and she heard him exhale as her lips parted beneath his and his tongue drove into her mouth. It was suddenly a deep, sensuous kiss that sent tension to her toes.  
  
Her hands moved to slide up his back and her left wrist was stopped short by the cuff. It jerked her back to reality, and she suddenly broke the kiss. They stared at each other. They were both breathing faster, and she swallowed as she looked into the serious, searching brown eyes of the man who had been her nemesis for the past few months.  
  
"What the hell was that?" she asked softly. His eyes were piercing in their intensity as he stared down at her, not backing away.  
  
"You don't know? Then let me give you another lesson." He was leaning forward again, until she could feel his breath on her face...but he didn't kiss her. He hesitated there...waiting. She hesitated as well, feeling almost electric as the anticipation surged through her blood. They said nothing and he leaned closer still, his mouth now mere inches from hers, his eyes looking directly into hers. She didn't move, holding his gaze, and a small breath escaped her lungs as she parted her lips. There was suddenly nothing else in the world around them. Their cuffed hands suddenly brushed together, and she was leaning to meet him, sliding her free hand up and around his nape, feeling the short, neat hairs of the 'high and tight'.  
  
He made a soft sound as their mouths fused once again and then he was pulling her away from the door and suddenly down onto the floor. She went willingly, suddenly wanting this more than she could believe. He rolled her to her back and his mouth was moving down her throat, leaving a warm, wet trail on her skin. She bit her lip lightly at the wealth of sensation that leapt up. She tried to move the cuffed hand and he suddenly threaded his fingers with hers and moved both of their locked wrists up and over her head. He leaned over her and his free hand slid across her ribs as his mouth continued to taste the skin of her throat.  
  
"What happened to that whole 'officer and enlisted' fraternization speech I had to listen to...?" she managed to ask, breathlessly.  
  
"I told you...I'm not an officer." He growled it into her neck, his hand pulling her t-shirt out of her BDUs and sliding onto her bare skin.  
  
"And you're not a gentleman..." she moaned as his mouth left her throat.  
  
"Hell no."  
  
He kissed her again and ran his fingers lightly up her side. She grabbed a handful of his shirt and jerked it out of his pants, then slid her own hand through the light hair on his hard, banded stomach. Their breaths grew together, and as his hand slid further, easing beneath the sport's bra she wore and cupping a breast, she was unbuttoning his camo pants and yanking the fly open, sliding her own hand down inside them. He stopped kissing her briefly and his eyes closed as her hand slipped over the bulge in his boxer briefs. She heard a groan rumble in his chest and into her mouth as she pressed her lips to his again.  
  
There was a sudden coughing sound....  
  
They both froze. Courtney opened her eyes and slid them towards the door of the vault. The door was open, and Duke stood in the doorway with two policemen and the formerly handcuffed bank manager.  
  
"Duke!" she exclaimed hoarsely. Beach Head was staring at him as well, his expression guarded and calm as usual, but his body was tense against hers. She slowly pulled her hand out of his pants and he removed his hand from her shirt, tugging it down over her bare skin as he did so.  
  
"Uhh...you found us! Great!" She remarked with enthusiasm, knowing her face was turning red. They hadn't even heard the door opening!  
  
"Perhaps you'd like me to 'un-find' you and wait in the lobby until a more...convenient time?" Duke quipped sardonically.  
  
"NO!!" Both her and Beach Head cried immediately. Her face was still red, but Beach Head had the added embarrassment of having to stand and refasten his pants. Duke eyed the cuffs linking them together as they walked past him into the lobby of the bank, where they also found Law waiting. He laughed as he saw the cuffs on them, and Beach Head scowled at him.  
  
"See how funny it is when I handcuff you to that damn dog of yours!"  
  
"As long as I'm not cuffed to you...I think I'd be ok." Law continued laughing. Duke explained to them that the robbers had left the bank manager in a parking lot as promised and the man had found a phone and called police. The robbers had been caught a few miles down the road, the police had contacted the base and found two soldiers who were missing. Duke had grabbed Law and driven over to meet them at the bank.  
  
"You'll have to have those cuffs cut off...they're not regulation, and the police are still booking the suspects. So even if they still have the key, we won't be getting it for a while." Law explained. He took them outside and they crawled side by side into the back of the Hummer Duke had brought. Law drove the jeep home, and Duke talked to the police and manager for a moment before coming out and driving them back to base.  
  
"Duke...you're not gonna tell anyone about this, are you?" Courtney finally asked him as they drove onto base. She jerked at the cuff as Beach Head folded his arms across his chest, dragging her arm up. He jerked back at the cuff and glared at her.  
  
Yes, sir...it was a brief moment of insanity...maybe I'm claustrophobic." He added.  
  
Duke shook his head. "Like anyone would believe me if I did."  
  
The cuffs were cut away an hour later and Duke stopped them as they both began to walk towards their quarters.  
  
"Hold on...there's one more thing."  
  
Cover Girl and Beach glanced at each other. "What is it, sir?"  
  
Duke reached into the pocket of his jacket and took out a VCR tape. He tapped it against his other hand and looked at them silently. Cover Girl felt her mouth run dry. She glanced at Beach Head and saw his eyes were glued to the tape.  
  
"What's that?" she asked fearfully.  
  
"This..." Duke held up the tape. "Is the surveillance tape from the camera inside the bank vault. Did you realize there was one there?"  
  
When they just glanced at each other, Duke smiled. "Well...obviously not. I had to confiscate it as property of the U.S. Government to get it out of that local police Lieutenant's hands. Which one of you would like it?"  
  
They both leapt forward, and Duke held it up looking at both of them. He hesitated and then slowly handed it to Cover Girl. She grabbed it thankfully and clutched it tightly.  
  
"Thanks Duke."  
  
He nodded before smiling. "It's for you, Cover Girl. If it hadn't been you on that tape...then I know a certain Warrant Officer who would have paid real money for this little...insurance." He looked pointedly at Beach Head. The Ranger held his gaze but said nothing. He didn't need to. His thoughts on Flint and Lady Jaye were well known. Duke shook his head, turned, and walked away.  
  
Cover Girl and Beach Head stood there and looked at each other.  
  
"You'd better destroy that!" He warned.  
  
"Don't worry!" She hissed. "I'm not interested in being a porno star, Sergeant."  
  
"We didn't go that far."  
  
"Thank God!"  
  
They stared at each other a moment longer, neither one moving away. She thought she saw something briefly in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something...and then closed it again.  
  
"You going home?" she asked, suddenly nervous.  
  
"Yeah...you?"  
  
"Yeah...I'm pretty tired. Listening to you ramble on for two hours tends to do that to people."  
  
She waited for his sharp retort...but he surprised her with a short snort of laughter and a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.  
  
"So...ah...do you..."  
  
"I'm really tired! I'm gonna get going!" She cut him off and turned to hurry from the room.  
  
"Yeah...me too." He ran a hand over his hair and followed her out, turning the opposite direction on the walk.  
  
END^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


End file.
